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How many kilometers / miles should one allow for breaking in the Engine? I recently bought a Red Line and was instructed to keep the rev.s under 4000 while I'm breaking in the engine.

As far as duration, a couple of responses that I've heard:

1. None required (they're run pretty hard during testing at the assembly plant anyway)
2. 1000 km (621 miles)
3. 1500 km (943 miles)
4. 5000 km (3107 miles) & 1st oil change to get rid of any floating metal bits
5. 10000 km (6214 miles) & 1st oil change...

This may be the 1st vehicle in the last 6 that I've owned that I keep past 2 years and as such, I would like it to last. I'm at just over 1000 km now, and it's been hard not to wring it out at every stop light as the car does seem to enjoy being driven hard.

 

[MotorMouth]

I just beat on mine right away.

 

[rlinbatonrouge]

I beat on mine even before I had actually bought it.

 

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Engine Break-In

I actually beat on another dealer's before buying mine (and discovered [A] the meaning of low clutch engagement & the wonders of wheel hop). The 2004 RLI that I did end up buying spent its time indoors as a showroom vehicle.

 

[Sp00ner]

I held off for a couple of hundred miles, mainly because I had too, too cold to drive hard anyway... Now I still drive it fairly easy, I mean, I shift soft most of the time, and I try not to run to redline unless I'm 'racing'.

 

[jmichna]

I drove moderately (no real high rpms e.g., >5500) for the first 500 miles (800 km), also no constant speeds for an extended period of time (mix of highway and city driving). After that, drove like I normally do (wild).

 

[tlake84]

How many kilometers / miles should one allow for breaking in the Engine? I recently bought a Red Line and was instructed to keep the rev.s under 4000 while I'm breaking in the engine.

As far as duration, a couple of responses that I've heard:

1. None required (they're run pretty hard during testing at the assembly plant anyway)
2. 1000 km (621 miles)
3. 1500 km (943 miles)
4. 5000 km (3107 miles) & 1st oil change to get rid of any floating metal bits
5. 10000 km (6214 miles) & 1st oil change...

This may be the 1st vehicle in the last 6 that I've owned that I keep past 2 years and as such, I would like it to last. I'm at just over 1000 km now, and it's been hard not to wring it out at every stop light as the car does seem to enjoy being driven hard.

One word. Warranty! The way I see it, you PAID for a warranty so why not use it!?!? Also Saturn claims that it is a "high performance" vehicle, so why not drive it like one! Now I just need to find a way to get them to cover my TIRES under warranty...

 

[MotorMouth]

I used to think that I had to baby a new car or a new motor until one day I was with a friend at the engine shop and he was having his new 602 ci big block dynoed and it dawned on me. If it is ok to beat the hell out of a brand new motor on the dyno why can't it be done with any other motor. I asked the guy who built the motor and his response was near the same, "I build motors all day and, if it's built right, you should be able to beat the piss out of it right away, no reason why you can't."

Since then I just throttle new motors, haven't had a problem as of yet.

 

[[DeVo]]

This is the thread i've been waiting for!! My redline is on order, so i was wondering how it should be broken in. Check this link out -> http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm
That is how i'm going to break mine in, and we'll see how it goes!

Just in case you don't want to read the link, it says to beat on it from the get go. The idea is that you need to seat the rings properly, and you have a very short period of time to do that on a modern engine. To seat the rings, you need high cylinder pressures, which means you need to give it some gas!

 

[LowSL2]

I used to work at the Toyota assembly plant in Fremont where they build the Corolla, Tacoma and Pontiac Vibe. We used to beat the shit out of those cars from the get-go. We run them on a dyno as soon as the cars are finished with assembly. Take them up to the speed limter and then test the brakes. If there are any problems we would take them to the side, fix them and run them again.

I know for a fact that every car that comes off of an assembly line goes through similar testing. But I do believe in baby-ing the engine for the first 250 miles. But I'm kinda anal about the motors I build. I put them through a tough break-in that consists of me driving from my house to San Francisco using city streets instead of the freeway. 50 miles of stop-and-go traffic. Then I drive back on the freeway alternating rpms by switching gears a lot. It might not do anything, but I've built 6 motors and they're all running strong to this day.

 

[Sp00ner]

I think it's a mental thing. I've seen and read the same things about testing new engines and cars, but I just can't get the break in procedures out of my head for a few hundred miles. It's almost like finding a girl you like, as opposed to one at the bar! Treat it right for a few weeks, THEN turn back into yourself!

 

[jmichna]

Don't know if it makes any difference, but that article link posted by 05IsAlive describes engine break-in for engines with aluminum pistons. Does the Ecotec 2.0L use aluminum pistons? (Suppose I should know, but don't know for sure). Would the article's conclusions be any different if the engine had steel pistons?

 

[goofyguy]

I spun the tires out of the Dealer. Scooter can vouche for that. The cars and the systems they use today are so perfect that a break in is almost laughable. The engines are milled to tolerances that would be laughable 5 years ago and not even possible 20 years ago.